“It’s right up ahead,” said the pirate, pointing in the direction of a fog bank they were heading for. Having been trapped on this vessel for days, he had come to realize that he stood no chance of fleeing it and learned to be cooperative. He hoped these people of the Great Wen would spare his life. He didn’t want to die.
As he had pointed them in the right direction helping them get to the destination so soon, Yuwen Tong granted his request, allowing him to stay on the vessel with a couple of men who would be guarding and protecting him.
“This is weird. Why are we not seeing the Fangcun flotilla? Have they by any chance entered that area already?” said Ling Zhang.
The visibility in the area ahead was too poor for them to tell the direction. They could see from a long way off that those waters were shrouded in thick mist, but there was no other flotilla staying in the vicinity.
“Probably. Given how anxious the king of that statelet was, I don’t see why they would linger outside after having come this far,” said Yuwen Tong.
“They’ve got a lot of balls, I’ll give them that. Do you think we should go in there immediately as well?” asked Ling Zhang.
He looked at the dense fog. His grandfather and Ji Yanlai both believed that the cause of the fog was a large-scale concealment Formation deployed around the island, but what with its magnitude and the sea, he was unable to tell how it worked by merely looking at it from the outside. However …
He perceived instinctively that there was danger in the mist, that the only way …
“That’s our way in, if we’re going to get in there,” he said, raising his hand and pointing south-east.
Yuwen Tong looked at him. “You sensed something?”
Ling Zhang inclined his head. “I can feel it’s quiet there, and all the other areas strike me as dangerous.”
With that, he shifted his gaze to Ji Yanlai, who agreed with him. “Your hunch is right.”
“I wonder what kind of secrets there are on this island. Someone actually went to such lengths as to deploy a concealment Formation of this scale around it,” said Ji Yin, looking in the direction of the dense fog in the distance.
“No matter what, we’ll find out after we get in there,” observed Ling Zhaowu.
Yuwen Tong turned on his heel and called the officers over. “It’s getting late, so we’re not going to the island today. Send word that we’re spending the night here. Tomorrow, after daybreak, half of our men are to go with me into the fog, and the other half are to stay here waiting for further instructions.”
“Yes, Sire.”
…
The fleet formed up, staying outside the fog bank, sailors and marines bustling around on the vessels. It was not easy to keep ships from drifting off course in these waters. Fortunately there was no strong wind or wave, and the situation was in hand.
The next morning, warm sun poured onto the surface of the sea and before long it was fully light.
The fleet resumed progressing towards the fog bank.
Ling Zhang, Yuwen Tong and some others were standing on the deck, watching the fog gaining on them.
Everybody was on the alert after the vessels sailed into the fog. Ling Zhang cleared his mind and let go of all emotion, sensing the subtle guidance which felt as though it were from a superior plain of existence, trying to navigate the fleet through the thick mist.
The other ships were following the flagship closely, and all ships had lighted torches on them lest they lose sight of one another. Everybody tensed up.
After a long time – two hours or maybe four – they finally sailed out of the gray fog bank, and the visibility gradually improved.
Once all the ships were out of the mist, they were greeted by an island standing right ahead.
The island was neither large nor small and bristled with weird-looking rocks. It had been two years since this island had emerged from the sea, but the rocks were still caked in scorched algae, the color of which was of varied shade. Overall, most of the rocks were dark gray, and those of light colors, which were few and far between, appeared rather obtrusive.
There were also many withered big trees standing on the island. They had long since died, but their trunks were still tenaciously erect.
The patches of strange-shaped rocks were interspersed with green bushes. Some grass seeds carried to this island by the wind had taken root, sprouted and grown up. In a word, this island was not entirely lifeless. At least there were plants here, though they were sparse.
The fleet slowly sneaked up on it. This place was very quiet – so quiet they couldn’t even feel any breezes, and there was no sign of danger whatsoever. None of what that pirate had mentioned was in sight – no tribe of cannibals, no people-eating monsters, no pirates trying to kill each other to get more treasure. The ships anchored off at intervals by the coast were the only proof that this island had had other visitors, but those ships were lying motionless on the coast, looking as though they had become a part of this bizarre island, as though they had once been alive but were now dead.
“Keep your eyes peeled, all of you. Do not let your guard down in any circumstances.”
Yuwen Tong gave another instruction as the fleet approached. His voice could travel very far. He had given orders in this way when they had been on the sea outside the fog bank. With his powerful internal energy, he was able to make himself heard by the whole fleet, including those very far away from him. However, on those previous occasions there had not been any echoes, but this time he heard loud reverberation.
Hearing echoes on the sea was indeed rather odd. Ling Zhang, Ji Yanlai and some others all slightly frowned.
It was as though this whole place were in some kind of invisible, gigantic container, which struck them as peculiar and unpleasant.
Before they arrived in this area, Yuwen Tong had conferred with the officers about this operation. When they had pulled up to shore and anchored off, teams of marines disembarked and formed up on the coast, guarding against possible unexpected situations.
Ling Zhang, Yuwen Tong and the others also got off the vessel. Once on the coast, they discovered that there was no sand beneath their feet, that the ground was mostly rocky, wet and slippery. The coast was rather steep too, and they could see a forest of grotesque rocks interspersed with bushes.
“Our arrival wasn’t really quiet, but none of those on this island showed up to see what’s going on. It would seem we’re not very welcome here,” said Ling Zhaowu into the silence, his eyes casually sweeping around.
Ling Zhang, Yuwen Tong and the others exchanged glances but none of them said anything. They all knew what Ling Zhaowu meant. They could hear the breathing of many people hiding in the seemingly deserted forest of grotesque rocks in front of them. Though those people were trying very hard to keep their breathing shallow, Ling Zhang, Yuwen Tong and the others could still hear it because of their exceptionally good hearing.
“It sounds like human’s breathing. They’re either that so-called ‘tribe of cannibals’ or the pirates that have arrived before us,” breathed Ling Zhang.
Yuwen Jin on the side, whose internal energy was not as powerful as theirs, couldn’t hear the breathing of those people, but he had deduced a lot from Ling Zhang’s words.
“Let me take some men and check out the lay of the land first, Sire,” suggested Yuwen Jin.
Yuwen Tong shook his head and, at a single motion of his hand, a naval officer who had been standing by for some time waved a flag and with that a team of soldiers went to the front and formed into a line, holding their shields aloft.
It was only then that Yuwen Tong said, “There’s no hurry. Given those people’s heavy breathing, their kung fu skills are just average. It’s arrows and traps that we should watch out for. Don’t go in there unprepared. We need to take their measure first.”
The vanguard was also part of the army, and it was always advisable to minimize the casualties.
Yuwen Jin nodded and stepped aside, laying his hand on the hilt of his saber hanging from his belt, ready to whip it out to fight at any moment.
“Sire, we still haven’t seen any ships of the Fangcun Kingdom so far. Haven’t they arrived before us?” asked Ling Maomao surprisedly, standing behind them. Ji Xiaocong on the side was also bemusedly looking around.
Yuwen Tong explained, “The Fangcun fleet did not anchor off in this area, and I could hear no movements of ships within a radius of dozens of li (a Chinese unit of length, equal to 500 meters), which means they either are still trapped in the fog bank or have landed on this island in another spot. Although this island is large, there’s no way the islanders, no matter how many of them there are, could handle two huge groups of intruders without making any noises. Seeing as they’re so quiet, I believe it’s more likely the Fangcun fleet is still in the fog.”
After hearing this, the others found it difficult to tell whether they were happy that they had beaten the Fangcun fleet to this island, or secretly complaining that the King of the South Ocean and his men were so lame. Now that the Fangcun fleet still hadn’t reached this island, they would have to take the brunt of attacks from the islanders. Had those people arrived before them and taken action already, a lot of obstacles would have been removed, making things a lot easier for latecomers.
“If only we’d known about it beforehand and slowed down a bit. Now we’ll have to clear the way for them,” Yuwen Jin snorted in a low voice, sounding rather sulky.
“How about I take some men and go there to have a look?” Ling Zhang said to Yuwen Tong. “Dashan and the others are all–”
“Let my men handle it,” Ji Yanlai suddenly said.
Ling Zhang looked surprisedly at him. Ji Yanlai continued, “We’ve been sitting idle throughout the journey. It’s about time we contributed something. Don’t worry – my men will get the job done, even if there are surprise attacks or defensive mechanisms.”
Ji Yanlai had brought several elders of the Millennium Pavilion and fifty guards with him, all of whom had kung fu skills, and half of them were as good at fighting as Yao Yi and the others. Moreover, all of them had a good knowledge of Formations.
Yuwen Tong, without any pretence of courtesy, said with a head bob, “Be careful.”
Ji Yanlai inclined his head and gestured for an elder standing by beside him to take action. The elder nodded and then swooshed into the forest of grotesque rocks with the guards behind him. They were so quick their figures blurred.
At the sight of this, Yuwen Jin who did not know any inside information was dumbfounded, his mouth wide open. He had thought that those guards’ kung fu skills and swordplay were a little above average at the most, but now it turned out that their Lightness Skills were so good.
On entering the forest of grotesque rocks, the couple of elders and the guards were greeted by arrows, but they had anticipated such attack, so none of the arrows could do them any harm. In fact, those arrows served only to give away the positions of their shooters, who soon found themselves sneaked up on by the targets they had tried to shoot.
“Why haven’t I found out sooner their kung fu’s so badass?” Yuwen Jin was shocked once again.
Ji Yanlai and Ji Yin appeared unimpressed.
Ji Xiaocong, however, proudly raised his chin a little and looked at Ling Maomao standing beside him. “You see that, Brother Maomao? I told you so.”
During the journey, Ji Xiaocong had told Ling Maomao about the caliber of the guards of the Millennium Pavilion.
Ling Maomao nodded. “That’s indeed very impressive.”
Ling Maomao had been learning kung fu from Ji Yin and had made some progress over the years, but now, watching those guards fighting the enemies, he felt that he was probably no match for any of them and couldn’t help but admire them.
Ji Xiaocong leaned closer to him and said beside his ear, “But I’m even better than them. You may rest assured that I won’t let you come to any harm on this island.”
Ling Maomao glanced at him and, after a few moments’ silence, said, “Okay.”
Ji Xiaocong’s face immediately creased into a smile so toothy his eyes were slits.
While the two of them were whispering to each other, the adults ahead of them were all watching the situation in the forest of grotesque rocks. As those hiding among the rocks were captured and thrown out one after another by guards of the Millennium Pavilion, the attackers’ identity gradually revealed itself.
